Thursday, January 28, 2016

Our Week In a Few Pictures

Monday, after Jaxen’s Speech Therapy, we loaded up and headed out to the YMCA and then on to grocery shopping. While I was getting things together, Jaxen decided he wanted to pack a lunchbox full of snacks for our morning…and then he carried it everywhere we went! At least it kept him entertained!

That afternoon we spent some time building with his legos - making tall, tall towers…and then knocking them down! This is probably in his top 3 favorite things to do right now.



Tuesday we woke up to freezing rain and so schools were on a 2 hour delay, which meant Jaxen had no school. Which meant all my plans went out the window - but we made the most of our "snow day" :) It started out by the heater first thing that morning, (as does every day)! And not long into the day, Jaxen decided he wanted to be Batman! I knew we were not planning on leaving the house, so I gave in to his request…and his request to eat 2 flour tortillas for breakfast.


We killed some time that morning by painting!  And he had so much fun - as did I! I recently bought  a package of about 20 different paintbrushes and he had a great time using them and painting probably about 10 different dinosaur pictures.


That afternoon he had an evaluation done for Occupational Therapy. We are waiting on the final results, but from what I was told - Jaxen would qualify for OT. There are quite a few areas, where he is not up to the “normal” standard and after talking with his Speech Therapist we agree that some OT would really help in some specific areas….and in most of these areas - it is all connected with his speech development. After sitting through this evaluation and the more I learn about Childhood Apraxia - I am gaining a better understanding of what his needs are, how to help him develop, and things we can do to make this process easier on him. Although, I can tell you right now, that he will not like OT. He likes to be very much in control of his movements and does not like to do anything that makes him ‘uncomfortable’. The OT will be way out of his comfort zone. But we have some time to figure it all out…


After being inside all day Tuesday, I needed to get out of the house on Wednesday! So after his speech therapy, we headed to McDonalds. I don’t typically do that - but Jaxen needed to get some energy out and I needed to get some work done (which is hard to do when Jaxen is home!). He had a great time playing and I was able to do what I needed to do in the hour we were there :)

We ran to the church so I could setup for the Wednesday night Bible Study I lead and then we spent some time practicing basketball. Jaxen is still not a fan! But we will finish up our classes and then I have a few ideas for what’s next. One of the things I have learned about Jaxen and his development is that he needs some kind of full-body activity (tumbling, marshall arts, swimming….). Something that will work all his muscles and something that is high energy. Basketball is just not doing it at this stage in his life.


Thursday (today) was probably my favorite day of the week (so far)! It was cold and icy, so Nik
kindly agreed to take Jaxen to school. Which meant, I stayed in my pajamas and the minute they left, I lit a candle, turned on my music and fixed a glass of tea. From there, I went room to room picking up and accomplishing a few tasks that are easier when I don't have a 3 year old helper (cleaning up ash from the fireplace, hanging pictures on the wall, rearranging rooms and moving furniture around, taking things to and from the basement and attic….). 

I know I am home all the time - but I'm never home by myself! So this was a super nice morning! I had 3 uninterrupted hours to do what I wanted. And apparently I wanted to “nest”. Haha!


After working in all rooms downstairs, I moved upstairs. I started out in Jaxen’s room and then moved on to Zane’s. The purpose was not to “clean” but to arrange and move things around that made more sense, and made rooms for organized for their purpose. Got it?!




Zane’s room is still a hodgepodge. I am continuing to go through all our baby stuff and pull out what I will need for the first 3 months. And I have to tell you - as I go through these adorable baby clothes - I’m so glad we are having another boy! I can remember Jaxen in every single outfit and I have the best memories of them. I’m not ready to let them go yet, and am excited that Zane can wear some of these same clothes!

After I picked Jaxen up from school and we ate lunch we spent some time in his room, building a robot and a house for his robot!


 We ended our afternoon with some great post-nap-cuddles!


We do not have a ton going on this weekend - but I’m looking forward to time with Nik and cozy fires in the fireplace…and maybe a good book! I do not read very often, but have been wanting to here lately. Any suggestions? Nothing deep. I want a fun read :)


Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Sledding Fun!

Sunday afternoon our church had a “Family Sledding Day”! We decided to join in and see how Jaxen liked it. He had never really been sledding before. Last year, it was super cold and we tried to get him to wear gloves, and he would not. Not even a little. So we stayed inside all winter - no winter fun activities for us. I was hoping to change that this year - so we went!


It was a beautiful, sunny day, and 23 degrees!

After putting on multiple pairs of gloves (his size) and all of them
“hurting his hands” he settled on my gloves.
They were way too big, but at least his hands had a little protection.

Here is Nik and Jaxen all ready to go!

At the top of the hill...

and down he went!

He loved every single minute of that sled ride!

He even took a couple of spills, but was a trooper and got right back up!

Nik had to talk Jaxen into riding with him…
he had so much fun by himself, he didn’t want daddy to ride too!
Finally, he let him :)

After awhile, he just wanted to play with Louka and Gabriella,
doing anything they were doing, instead of sledding.

Jaxen and Louka

Running around in the snow - he did not want to go home!

Nik finally talked him into leaving, if daddy would give him a ride!

We had such a great time!


Monday, January 25, 2016

Life Lately

Life lately has been good. I feel like we are all back in our “normal” routines. Nik goes to work / Jaxen has speech therapy and school and basketball / and I’m keeping up on the laundry, cooking dinners, facilitating a Bible Study and keeping our calendars coordinated :)

That being said…it seems as if there has been a lot going on! I find myself making meals / desserts for people and events, running extra errands, having more appointments…but it’s all good. Most of that probably stems from being not too far away from having a baby. I know there is still many, many weeks to go…but I’m trying to think ahead and take care of things so when Baby Zane does enter our world, my focus can be on him and adjusting with Jaxen to a family of four….not eye appointments and preschool signup and cleaning my bathroom vent (seriously that is on my to do list this week - ha!).

I have also had the time this past week to get together with some ladies (no kids) and it has seriously been nice! That is one thing I miss about working…the social aspect. Just talking and hanging out - so it was nice to be able to do that.

Here are a few pics of our life lately….

Jaxen not only loves our heater vent in the sitting room. 
He also now loves the one in our downstairs bathroom :)

We tried basketball again on Friday. 
It went better, but I’m counting down the weeks until it is over.
Jaxen is just not a huge fan right now!

He participated about half the time.
The other half was spent in my lap or holding on to a ball for dear life. 
See picture below!

At least he gave it another try!

Nik tried to get out there with him…but it didn’t really help.

Saturday morning I made cupcakes and had a little helper!
He loves helping me bake and has really become a good helper!

They were Buttermilk Chocolate Cupcakes (new recipe) 
and I think they turned out pretty good!

Jaxen sure thought so!

On Saturday I also enjoyed a fire.
It was cold outside (14 degrees I think), and I’m pretty sure by 9am I asked Nik to build me a fire.
We kept it going all day and it was so nice and cozy :)

And that’s our life lately…!

oh - Sunday afternoon we joined others from our church for some sledding.
Pictures coming soon - there are a bunch of them - haha!

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Pregnancy - 27 & 28 Weeks

I am only 28 weeks along in this pregnancy. That may sound far along to some of you…but not to me! That means I still have 12 weeks (give or take) to go. Insert sad face. I’m really trying to enjoy this pregnancy…but it can be difficult when I am burping for about 20 minutes solid (Thursday night). I seriously thought I was never going to stop burping - I was burping so bad, I could hardly take a breath! 

I really cannot complain though…all in all…this has been a wonderfully easy pregnancy (especially considering what a lot of ladies go through). 

So here are a few pics for you...

Baby Zane - 27 weeks

Baby Zane - 28 weeks

Week 27 I had to have the normal glucose testing done. So I sat in the doctor’s office and downed a sugar-type-drink in 5 minutes - and then for the next hour I had to sit in their office until it was time to take my blood. So that was fun! And to top it off - The drink was kind of making me sick. So I sat there and would burp (and throw up a little in my mouth) but could do nothing about it - not even take a drink of water! Thank goodness for smart phones, blogs, Facebook and pinterest to take my mind off of that for an hour :)

Then this past Monday I had to have another anatomy ultrasound done. I had one back in December, but the technician could not get Baby Zane’s heart. She tried and tried then, to get the pictures she needed, but to no avail. So I had to schedule another one. She got the pics she needed this time around - but it was not easy! He was being so stubborn, and was pretty comfy and not willing to move. After about 45 minutes, plus a bathroom break, marching in place and rolling around - she finally got them. 

The nice thing about having another (and a very expensive) ultrasound was that I did get to see Baby Zane, and she printed off a few pics for me:

Profile (turn your head to the right)

Face picture
In which the technician told me that my baby was “chunking up”!
Look at that cheek!

And he is growing hair on his head!
The arrow is pointing to it.
Jaxen came out with lots of hair too!

Arn’t those pictures sweet?! They will probably be the last ones I see, until I see Baby Zane in person. And I cannot wait to meet this precious little boy growing inside of me!

So…other details I want to remember about this stage of pregnancy (besides the burping)…. My hips hurt. They really hurt at night, so I have to roll over every hour or so. It helps, but it’s a pain. My hips always hurt with Jaxen as well. 

And “baby bangs”. The official name of what is happening to my hair right now. Although I am losing a fistful of hair every single day - thankfully, I am growing new hair. It’s pretty funny, though. It is wild and hard to tame. I vaguely remember this with Jaxen. It is a lot of new hair and after I blow-dry it, it just sticks straight up! Then I have to really work at getting it to lay down!

Physically - Baby Zane is doing great. He gained about a pound since the first of December, but is measuring well and has a strong heartbeat. My blood pressure is great. Apparently my placenta is beautiful (or so I have been told). The fluid is running through the umbilical cord well and the fluid around Baby Zane is good. 

Since we have been back, I have had Jaxen helping me in Baby Zane’s room and we have been talking a lot more about him being a big brother to Baby Zane. It was so funny - the other day after we were talking - all of a sudden Jaxen said “I have to find Baby Zane!” And he started hollering through the house for Baby Zane! Once I explained he was not here yet he said “Oh. Get shoes momma. Go get Baby Zane!”. Sweet boy - he has no idea! Haha.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Our Baby Has a Name!

Nik told me when I first found out I was pregnant, that he didn’t really want to discuss baby names until we knew the gender. Made sense to me! So I let it go…for awhile. Then on one of our road trips this fall I told him I wanted to at least start making a list of names we liked. So we took about 10 minutes and came up with a few names…

On our girl list: Emery and Quinn

On our boy list: Everett, Beckett and Holden

Fast forward to the day of our anatomy ultrasound (December): While we were sitting in the waiting room, I pulled out this list (untouched since the previous one conversation). At that point, I told him I wanted to veto Quinn. He agreed. And so we were left with one girl name: Emery Nikole (after Nik). Settled.

Then we discussed our three boy names and decided to veto Everett. Two left.

Time for our appointment - It’s a boy!

After finding out Baby D was a boy - we revisited our list and added Zane to the mix. Zane was a top runner when naming Jaxen and we still both really liked the name.

After awhile we vetoed Holden. That left us with Beckett and Zane. It was really hard to choose between the two. I thought I would ask Jaxen his opinion and out of the three times I asked (all different times) he picked Zane over Beckett! It was funny - because he really had a strong opinion!

We started talking middle names then and decided that we wanted to name Baby D after Nik’s side of the family (Jaxen has my father’s middle name). After going through some options we landed on Russell, after Nik’s dad. And come to find out…Russell was also Nik’s grandfather’s middle name on his mom’s side!

By the end of December we had pretty much settled on the name Zane Russell and decided to share it with our families, and try it out. So we did - and so far - we like it!

Now - I will say the same thing I said with Jaxen’s name - I reserve the right to change it until it is printed on the Birth Certificate!

But for now…Baby D is….

ZANE RUSSELL DAVIS

**********

In other news…I have had people ask what we need for Baby Zane. I have been going through all of Jaxen’s things and I have started a list of a few essentials we will need when Baby Zane arrives. Thankfully, we don’t need nearly as much as we did with the first…although I feel like I think I need more than I actually do - already…make sense?!

Anyway - I have gone to Target.com and started a registry. As I think of other things, I will add to it. I am not brand or store specific to any item I put down… I basically just searched what I needed and registered for whichever popped up! Target is just the easiest place to do so :)

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Since I’ve Been Home...

Since I’ve been home I have done the following:


  • Doctor’s Appointment Thursday Morning: routine baby checkup (post coming!).
  • Doctor’s Appointment Friday Morning: routine glucose testing.
  • Unpacked all suitcases and bags from our trip and put things away.
  • Un-decorated from Christmas: all that is left is for Nik to carry everything up to the attic!
  • Decorated for Valentine’s Day!

Nothing major…just a few little touches around the house!



  • Cleaned House: after un-decorating, everything needed a good dusting!
  • Laundry: I think I am finally caught up!
  • Got Jaxen well: He had a touch of the bug that I caught and was finally feeling better on Friday!
  • Jaxen started "Hoops -n- Scoops”: This started out really cute, but then turned to complete chaos and Jaxen in tears.
All was well before it started. Jaxen was having the best time playing basketball!



And then the class started. See Jaxen holding tight to his basketball?
He would not let go. For anything. And wanted nothing to do with his class.


It was after this picture that things started breaking down…
he just wanted to do what he wanted…play basketball :)
There was a lot of waiting around and people telling him what to do,
but not showing or helping. There were only 2 teachers and over 10 kids (all 3 and 4 years old).


He got seriously overwhelmed and just sat down and cried.
It was not a good experience…but…
we will be back! 
We have already started talking to him about trying again and he seems excited to go back.


  • Taken care of Nik: he woke up with the stomach bug (bad) on Friday night and has been in bed and quarantined ever since! Not that I really take care of him…but I have cleaned, disinfected, done laundry, made sure he drank fluids (and now, making sure he is eating some) and mainly kept Jaxen and myself away from him! He is on the mend…thankfully!


So that was just a short recap of my 4 days since I’ve been home :) plus a few other usual weekly tasks…grocery shopping, cooking, dishes, rehearsal, making church schedules….

And now…back to it! Need to make dinner and get a plan made for my week ahead!